Shadows Are Copycats
by Rin-nocence
Summary: He threw away his future as a shinobi for a band of daredevils. He threw away his status as a famous shinobi's son to become a circus monster.
1. A Copycat Shadow

We all found it weird that the ever-lazy Kakashi would take us to see the circus.

No, that's not it. We found it... _suspicious_.

But that was how we met... _him._

A person we never thought would exist. There were no pictures of him in Kakashi's house- we'd searched it as a little mission. We thought it was impossible. But it was.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto puffed. "Are we... there yet?"

"What does it look like, dobe?" Sasuke-kun snarled. The scowl that would usually ruin a person's features only made Sasuke-kun's more attractive.

Naruto groaned, plopping down on the ground beside me.

"Come on, Naruto," I urged, trying to get him up. "Come on, we're nearly there. It's rare that Kakashi-sensei's actually treating us to anything, so let's make the most of it!" I beamed at Sasuke. "Right, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

The normal treatment.

Slightly disappointed, I sighed and helped the sweating Naruto up. I, myself, wasn't in very good shape either. Who would we be meeting on a mountain like this? I saw several people take a tram, passing us a little while ago.

"Come on, it's just a little mountain," Kakashi sighed, showing us his usual closed-eye smile. "We're nearly there. You'll be thrilled when you see them."

Them?

Completely mystified, the three of us followed out leader once again, towards to top of the mountain.

As we got closer, I could see a large tent-like building; several times large than that of the authoritive offices. And the closer we got, the more people we saw.

Child, parents, teens, elderly; there were at least one of each age group.

That was when it dawned on me.

This place was a circus. The Dark Woods Circus [1] that was popular around the village. No matter how popular it was, it simply gave off the wrong vibe. It seemed dark, dangerous, sinister; evil, even.

"A... circus?!" Naruto pointed oh-so-rudely at our instructor. "KAKASHI-SENSEI, ARE YOU COMPARING US NINJA TO THESE CIRCUS FREAKS?!"

"Well, these people learn to do tricks with the little chakra they have. I'd say none of them, but I know of only one that has been trained as a ninja," our instructor explained, making a beeline for the - quite large - area behind the extremely large tent. "I'd like you to meet someone."

There are gates fencing the area behind the tent, but as ninja, we get over quite easily.

"Who are we meeting?" Naruto whined, his breathing uneven and jagged. We're all tired from trekking that mountain.

"Why couldn't we have taken the tram?" Sasuke scowled.

**_Aww... That's so cute!_**

_Shut up, Inner, before I knock you out of my mind and permanantly make sure you don't do anything stupid._

"THERE WAS A TRAM?!" Naruto screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi, who simply shrugged it off.

"Perfect excercise," the man commented plainly.

There are several smaller tents littered around the area behind the circus. Kakashi scanned the area, before instantly heading towards a black and red tent by the edge of the area- this was a cliff and not a mountain.

The silver-white haired man strolled casually into the tent, and we follwed shortly after.

The tent wasn't so much of a tent, but more of a small villa. There were windows on the side facing the cliff where sunlight and blue sky poured in, contradicting the dark, mysterious aura that the circus itself gave off.

This place was filled with daredevils- beings who were trained to do tasks that narrowly avoided death. For others' entertainment.

Right by the window, was a small boy, a little younger than myself- eight or nine years, if I had to guess. He had the same silver-white hair as Kakashi - only it wasn't spiky, but excessively messy - and an intricate blood red tattoo on the left side of his face. His eyes were slightly harder to tell. They looked a muddy gray, but I'd rub my eyes and his pupils were a dirty red.

Another boy - slightly older; he looked about our age - sat at his side, laughing. He had flaming red hair, and an emerald green eye that scrunched in an extremely cute way when he laughed. His other eye was covered by a black eyepatch.

These two boys gained more attention from me than I ever gave to Sasuke. But neither of them seemed to noticed any of us.

Well, until the younger boy looked up and noticed four new presences in the tent. His face brightened as soon as he saw Kakashi.

"Hey, Dad." He jumped up, leaving the large, awkward-looking yellow plushy he was holding and rushed to hug Kakashi.

"Oh, so you wanted us to meet your son," Naruto reasoned, laughing stupidly. The blonde froze. "Son?"

"Kakashi-sensei! You had a son?!"

Kakashi nodded, hugging the boy back, lifting the small boy into his arms. The boy was quite small- he didn't look like a circus-trained child at all.

Even Sasuke-kun looked surprised.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi said, gesturing the boy, after setting him back onto the ground. "This is my son, Kagerou."

"It's nice to meet you, Kagerou-kun," I smiled, holding out my hand for the boy. "I'm Haruno Sakura."

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" yelled Naruto, his voice ringing around the tent. "Hiya."

"Hn."

I laughed awkwardly. "That's Uchiha Sasuke-kun."

The other boy laughed at the look on Kagerou's face, hopping off the window sill and joining us. He swung an arm around Kagerou's shoulders, still laughing.

Kagerou ignored him and shook my hand reluctantly. "Please call me Copycat or Shadow."

"Hey, who's that?" Naruto asked rudely, pointing at the redhead.

Kagerou smirked, jerking his finger at the redhead. "This guy is Akari."

"NOOOOOOO! DON'T TELL THEM THAT! THE GIRL MIGHT STALK ME LIKE THE BLONDE ONE [2] DID! I'M RED! CALL ME RED!" Akari cried, holding his head. "Oh, that blonde chick... she was pretty, but damn, she's scary!"

So his name was Akari. How fitting.

Kagerou and Akari. Shadow and Red. Explains the colours of the tent.

"Well, nice to meet you, Red."

Sasuke smirked. "Stage names, hm?"

Kagerou nodded. "Yes. Many of us don't like to be called by our real names; many of us don't even know each others' real names. So we naturally call each other by our stage names. Everyone is given a stage name once entered." Kagerou smiled, pushing up the sleeve of his gray-blue sweater and checking the black watch on his arm. "Naturally, the main string get to choose their stage names, although none of us rarely change them. My original stage name was Copycat, but they later saw another skill in me and renamed me Shadow. Right, Red?"

Akari nodded. "Yeeeerp."

Kakashi petted his son on the head, ruffling the fluffy-looking silver-white hair up. "It must be time to go. We'll see you after the show."

The two boys waved us off, sinister grins adjorning their faces.

"Enjoy the show."

**[1] Dark Woods Circus: Stolen from the Vocaloid song "Dark Woods Circus". I'm not original enough to think of a better name xD The song's quite dark, but it's cool. Or, I'm just a scary person.**

**[2] Don't stalk me like the blonde one did: That's Ino. Blonde, stalkish, likes cute guys? Yup.**

**New story! I had this idea, and I just HAD to write it up. It's going to be pretty dark and angsty :3 I haven't read a mystery/thriller/horror/fantasy fan-fic in AGES. I think I did a pretty good job. I'll update TPD (The Pearl Diver) a little more, because it seems pretty popular, now that IBYTD is finished. DD (Dimensional Differences) will be getting a little more attention as well ;3 But this one will be my priority :D **

**Anyway, as you can see in the pic, Little Lavi is Akari/Red and Little Allen is Kagerou/Copycat/Shadow. The cover is Lag Seeing from Tegami Bachi. I just liked the DGM pic :3 But from now on, I'll be using Lag for an example of Kagerou until I can draw something up. I'll use Allen occasionally. As usual, I do not own the pics for the cover or the pic thingy.**

**Hope you enjoyed this so far! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible! :3**

**Yukio Kurochi ~ 30/11/2012**


	2. Bloody Shadow

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto grinned, his cheeky face widening. "Hey, hey, who's the lady?" He nudged the instructor with his elbow teasingly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have a son, right?" I explained, figuring out what Naruto was getting at. "Who's the mom? She's got to be real pretty! Kagerou-kun is so cute! Wait, is Akari-kun your son, too?"

"I can't say I'm not interested," Sasuke-kun commented, folding his arms.

We walked in silence for a few moments, reaching the performance tent - as the performers called it.

Once we were seated, Kakashi answered us. "She died."

After another few moments of silence that nobody was willing to break, Kakashi spoke again. "Akari isn't my son. He's Gerou's best friend. They've been friends ever since Gerou quit being a ninja."

That surprised me more than it should've.

Kakashi's _son_, **_not_** a **_ninja_**?

"He was Chuunin when he quit. His mom died around then, too." Kakashi's eye had a faraway look. It was like there was a blanket of mist right over his eyes, and all he could see were memories of a small, happy family.

"It was about two days after his mom's funeral... Gerou was about six..." A look of pain flitted across Kakashi's face. "He disappeared for two days... and came back, telling me that he was going to quit being a ninja. Then he told me that he was going to join a circus because he didn't want to see other people having the same ending as his mother." We could all see the hurt behind Kakashi's mask.

"Why? Being a ninja is really cool!" Naruto said, pouting. "I don't understand his thinking!"

"I think I understand, though," I replied, looking out at the currently empty stage. "He doesn't want to see anyone die the same way as his mom... So not being a ninja would pretty much be the solution. He could go be something else that would put use of his training, yet still have almost have nothing to do with ninja."

Sasuke-kun nodded. "He's one very smart child."

Kakashi shook his head. There was about three minutes until the show started. The noise was starting to be overwhelming. "No... Kagerou... He was recruited into the Dark Woods Circus."

"Recruited?"

Kakashi sighed, opening his eye and forcing a smile that hardly looked forced. "Even I don't know how that happened. Let's just watch this show, shall we? Gerou said that they've developed a new storyline."

And thus, he left us shrouded in the mist.

And as he said... the show started.

The show started exactly how I imagined it would. Darkness surrounding us, single spotlight, shrouded in man-made fog.

It gave off what I expected- fear, danger, remorse, and- was that... death?

The light flickered or a moment, and before I knew it, there was a small girl standing within the spotlight.

Her long blonde hair shimmered in the bright light, and her eyes, oh, her eyes... They rivaled Naruto's bright cerulean blues. Her outfit was pink; the hair ribbon was pink, her dress was pink, her scarf was pink, her shoes were pink.

"Welcome to the Dark Woods Circus! My name is Uchiha Seika, and I'll be your narrator and ringmaster for today."

Uchiha?

I watched Sasuke-kun flinch visibly, hands shaking from what I saw as rage. She was an Uchiha... Oh! I see.

_**Shouldn't he be happy instead of angry? She's blonde, as well. How can she be an Uchiha anyway?**_

_Please shut up, Inner. I'd like to enjoy this show without interruptions._

**_Fine_**.

_Thank you._

"She... shouldn't exist," Sasuke muttered, rage seeping through his voice.

People cheered, and Seika smiled. "Well... Shall we begin?"

More cheers, whistling, as well. Seika grinned; a cheeky, yet dangerously sinister grin that brought chills to my neck. It was almost the same as that of Akari and Kagerou's when we left.

There's something wrong here, and I know it.

The lights went out, leaving us in pitch black.

"Alice~ Oh, Alice~ When will you be here?"

Kagerou's voice. Why did he sound so... so... twisted? So crazy? As if he were possessed by some demon...

The lights flickered back on for a second, and that's when we saw him.

Kagerou, a scarily dangerous grin plastered on his face, while ironic red liquid dripped from his face, dribbling from his lips. His right eye was covered by his hair, a blue cap and cat ears on his head. A matching tail was wrapped around his neck, as a white scarf - not so white anymore - trailed it's way to the ground.

It was the darkest thing I ever saw.

I'm sure everyone else was mentally scarred by that simple image.

And with that image, eerie music playing softly in the background... the show that would last a lifetime started.

* * *

**IT'S SHORT. LUCKY MEH. :3 Nah. New character~ More about her will be revealed, because she'll be a major plot character! I was planning to have her in there in the first place, but then a friend comes up saying she wants her character in there. And her character ends up almost exactly as I wanted Seika to. I was contemplating on a name when she came up to me, actually .-. Coincidence~**

**Kakashi was OOC as shit, but meh. SFGASGALSIGSGFAKUGFKUYSDF KAKASHI I'M SO SORRY FOR MAKING YOU OOC!**

**I'm done with my rant.**

**Bai~**

**Yukio Kurochi ~ 02/11/2012 **


	3. Fear In Shadows

The more I watched, the more I wanted to puke. The feeling scratched at the insides of my stomach, gouging at my conscience. It felt wrong. It felt so disgusting to watch it all unfold. There was nothing wrong with the circus. It was the bloody image of Kakashi-sensei's son that made me want to escape. My chest clenched, and I fought the urge to simply bolt out of the tent.

Not too soon after the stage went dark for the umpth time, the spotlight came back on again. This time, instead of one bloody Kagerou with cat ears and a tail, it was a girl.

She skipped into the spotlight, humming a mildly familiar song. Her short brown hair bounced as she skipped, and the azure blue dress she wore simply screamed 'innocent'. But the faint red-pink stains littering the dress told me something else.

"Sister?" The girl looked around, fake innocence radiating off her. It was disgusting to watch. "Where might you be, sister?" The girl tapped a slender finger on her chin. "Oh, that's right," she giggled. "I killed you." Her giggles became hysterical. "Ahahahah! I killed my sister! Alice killed her sister! Ahahah!" She pranced around the stage, laughing. "Yes, that way Alice's sister will forever remain beautiful! She'll be Alice's forever~ Ahahah! Alice's sister Lily will forever be Alice's!" A look of insanity was etched onto her face. A mixture of love, hate, adoration, selfishness and several others made up this look of insanity. "Yes... Alice did the right thing, didn't she... Alice preserved Lily's beauty for good... Lily won't be stolen by some perverted old man... Yes... Lily will forever be Alice's..."

By this time, I couldn't help it. "Kakashi-sensei! Stop it! This is... This is..." I reached for the man, pleading. "Please, this isn't right!" My voice was yet a whisper. "Kakashi-sensei!"

The father simply put a finger to his lips and shook his head. "Their storyline is always somewhat grotesque. There's no good in stopping it. It's always like this. There won't be anyone dead; don't worry."

Naruto shuddered heavily, clenching his teeth. "This is really scary..."

"...Quite... fitting," Sasuke-kun muttered, watching the girl prance around, seemingly entranced by 'Alice'.

Her short dress fluttered as she spun around the stage. A dark, bloody red ribbon lowered from the ceiling, and Alice immediately attached herself to it. Her skirt ripped from her body, revealing a much shorter - like, less than mini-skirt short - skirt. Alice hugged the ribbon, wrapped herself within it, flipping and turning. She certainly didn't look like it, but Alice was much swifter and agile than a normal human would be. She was... I'm embarassed to say that she's more agile than I am.

The ribbon stopped raising.

Alice stopped moving.

And the Shadow came into the scene, fresh blood dripping, igniting all the fear in me.

* * *

**Hi there :3 It's so dark, blah blah, so bloody and grotesque ;3 Yay~ I like horror and shit like dat~ Hope chu enjoyed this grotesque-ness. **

**Yukio Kurochi ~ 08/12/2012**


	4. Dangerous Shadows

I couldn't help it.

However grotesque it was; it was infatuating.

One bright red-purple eye showing, Kagerou pranced around the stage, close to the audience. So close that I could see the cat ears on his head were actually twitching, and the cat tail he sported was really swaying.

I silently agreed with myself that I would simply never involve myself with this kind of sport again. It was purely wrong.

But whatever I thought, it was strangely charismatic. The circus was. Not just the people, the appearance, the aura—everything was so attracting.

"Oh, Alice," purred Kagerou in a voice that didn't sound like his own, "when will you be here? We've waited oh-so-long for you..."

The boy flipped several times, all while looking extremely cat-like, yet dangerous. His little blue cap refused to fall as he continued doing tricks that even we – as ninja – saw as quite complex and extremely hard to do, with simple ease. These people would certainly make better ninja than myself; Sasuke-kun, even.

I suddenly understood what Kakashi-sensei meant that these people weren't "a band of freaks"; they were performers—they were artists.

Showing us the same Chesire grin that he had previously shown – I wasn't even sure if it was supposed to be part of his character; it seemed quite clear that this was a twisted and darker version of Alice in Wonderland (If this was it, Kagerou would surely be the Chesire cat) – Kagerou flipped out of the stage with a feline-like purr.

Almost instantly, Red appeared beneath Alice, who was still suspended in mid-air from her ribbon. A wildly decorated hat sat on Akari's firey red hair. My eyes immediately floated to his eyepatch; it was now imprinted with some sort of gothic skull.

"The Mad Hatter," Kakashi-sensei murmured, "the Mad Hatter. How... fitting." For the past while, it seemed quite obvious that the usually stoic man was in a trance; almost seeming like he had lost himself within the performance.

"Alice, oh, Alice... How long we've awaited! This simple world begs for you to liven us... Bring something fresh for us... Something fresh for one of my famous tea parties, perhaps?" Red raised an arm, looking like he were serenading someone. His features showed an emotion similar to bliss, though it looked strained and made him look somewhat inhumane.

The lights flickered, illuminating Red's face. For a moment, the same pained, yet frightening grin lingered on his face. Then he was gone.

The spotlights were no longer positioned on the stage, but were now stationed at the two trapezes at the top of the tent, several metres high. At each end was a young child. If I had to guess, they were both around six years old. Almost too young to be a star in such a circus. One child was a young girl; blonde hair, blue eyes and a large white ribbon that served as a decor on her head. The other child was a young boy; similar blonde hair and blue eyes, but an intense stare that bore right into the audience's frightening eyes.

"The twins," murmured Sasuke. "What a strange combination."

As if on cue of Sasuke-kun's words, both pounced from their support boards and onto the trapezes with practised ease. To them, it was a simple task that they'd done since they were small. But to us, it was a task of extreme control and danger. Not even a trained ninja could do something like that with such confidence at the age of six. It just wasn't right.

The children twisted and turned, leaping from their trapezes and switching, flipping and laughing.

Before the lights went out again, the two innocent-looking children showed that grin that the whole circus seemed to have mastered...

"Oh, no, no, no," cried a voice in the darkness. "This cannot be right!"

The lights came back on, dimmer than before.

Alice was gone.

In her place...

Seika hung upside-down from the ceiling, her pink dress now swapped for a much lighter lilac skirt and corset. As she hung upside down, her skirt was naturally flipped, but all that was shown was a large pair of boxers that were clearly not hers. A pair of large bunny ears flopped from her head naturally like her pigtails. And like Kagerou, it looked like it was real. If not—it was real.

"Oh, no, I'll be late! Alice will be waiting! We cannot afford to—Oh, hello there!" Seika grinned the same grin that all the circus members had shown. Seika waved down at us cheerfully, seemingly not bothered by the fact that she was simply hanging by her foot off a very unstable-looking ribbon.

Alice came prancing out of the darkness, apparently oblivious to Seika. "Oh, where might you be, Lily?"

Seika giggled. "Up here, Alice!" Out of nowhere, Seika brandished a rifle. And with extreme accuracy – she was upside-down, of course – she shot – _actually __**shot**_ – Alice.

And suddenly, all the characters were there.

Chesire, Mad Hatter, the twins—they were all there.

Resonating with the same grotesque grin, they all spoke together.

"Saa, who will be the next Alice?"


	5. Hiding in the Shadows

"Saa, who'll be the next Alice?"

A shiver ran up my spine as I heard this, and I sat up a little straighter.

Seika grinned, leaping off the ribbon with enthusiasm that was slightly scary. Flipping multiple times, twisting and turning, she landed on the ground on her hands, flipping into a bridge. It was all rather complex and worthy of praise.

"Alice of Spades," Seika called. "You're the next Alice, aren't you?" Seika flipped back, curtseyed and held out a hand. All eyes flickered to the character with the large Spade embroidered onto his hat. "Well then... Shall you embark on your journey?"

The Alice of Spades pounced out of line. His bright red-purple eye glowed eerily in the dim light. "Shall I, then?"

* * *

Darts. Knife-throwing. That was the Alice of Spades' task.

Copycat wore black gloves, thin, sharp knives between each of his fingers. The cat ears twitched continuously, and the gray-white tail waved in an arrogant manner. The large Spade suit on his little blue cap glimmered innocently.

Seika sat at the top of the trapeze, legs swinging cheerfully. She gave a short snort as the stage-hands moved the reflective target board into the focus of us. Alice hung limply from the target board, a large blue and white ribbon on her head. White lilies sat on her shoulders, ribbons decorated multiple parts of her body.

"Alice of Spades, or, better known as Chesire... This is your trial." Seika gestured Alice and the board while Kagerou simply smirked. "Hit all the targets—Alice's bow, the lilies on her shoulders, the ribbon on either side of her hips, the ribbons on the edges of her skirt, and the straps over her shoes. The only obvious rules are that you may not harm Alice in any way possible, and you may not step away from the platform you now stand on." Seika's blue eyes sparkled with challenge. "Are you up to this?"

Copycat's eye reflected arrogance. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Confidence is a good thing," she comments, bunny ears flopping. "You may start... now."

Kagerou's eye gleamed, and the first knife pinned Alice's hair ribbon. Another flash of silver, and two knives cut through the ornate straps of Alice's black shoes. Kagerou's hands looked like blurs—it was too hard to see him move at all. I saw Sasuke-kun squint, and Naruto's look of horror.

Her short sky-blue skirts brushed, and the white ribbons were shredded to bits. Kakashi-sensei looked extremely impressed. A simple wave of his hand, and the left ribbon of Alice's dress was ripped. The right ribbon was destroyed moments after.

A single white petal dropped from the left lily, and the Alice of Spades took that chance. Before the petal could fall to the ground, it was trapped by the knife to the wall.

The last knife was raised. And it flew.

We all sucked in a breath.

But Alice deflected it.

The knife flew back towards Kagerou, and in pure shock – whether it was rehearsed or not, it looked genuine – he froze. The horror struck him hard, and Kagerou's single red-purple eye widened.

The knife struck him square in the forehead.

And he crumpled to the ground.

* * *

**KUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFFUFUUFU FU**

**Circus Monster ~ 23/12/2012**


	6. A Bloody Shadown - END

Several gasps echoed the room as the small boy crumpled to the ground. A look of mock horror flitted across Alice's face, and she vaulted off the board, leaping at the short trapeze. I almost felt my heart in my mouth; my ears pumping the blood that was supposed to be further down. I clenched the edge of my dress hard, feeling my nails dig into my skin.

"Why...?"

Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "This one... is different."

I wished with all my might that the spotlight would go off, stop illuminating his small body, and leave him in the dark, but it did nothing. It stay, pinpointing Kagerou.

Seika in her little bunny's uniform stood on the platform, fear embracing her. She seemed... completely confused.

Then it hit me.

_This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't the storyline. Kagerou must have to defeat her._

For a second... everything was pitch-black.

I heard Seika's scream.

Sasuke's yell of resistence.

Naruto's cry of disbelief.

Kakashi-sensei's draw of breath.

Then Akari's face, right up against mine.

"You are too late."

I heard the squelch of something.

Something sprayed against my cheek; half my face was drenched in it.

Something heavy fell into my lap.

I glanced slowly down.

Raven black hair.

And I screamed. I leaped up, running towards the exit. In my hurry, I tripped over something. Tears were brimming my eyes. I couldn't see properly. Whimpering and shaking tremendously, I threw a kunai towards the top of the tent.

Nothing happened.

Screams of agony.

Pounding of the stage.

Kagerou's laugh.

Akari's laugh.

Seika's scream of mocking pity.

The twins' screech of insane giggling.

And I saw red.

Splay across my vision.

Scrambling away as far as I could from the group towering above me, pleads strung from my mouth.

And I was dead within seconds.

* * *

**Aaaaaaaaand that's a wrap for Shadows Are Copycats. I had other ideas in mind for this story, but I really wanted to end it ._. Maybe I'll re-write it when I have time. I'm quite disappointed in this ending, actually. Although I've been meaning to end it similarly. **

**If you didn't get it, Alice 'killed' Kagerou, then 'killed' Seika. **

**Then she started killing the audience. I never mentioned Ino's group being alive after they watched the circus, though. So pretty much, this circus had something wrong with them and started killing their audience after they changed the storyline. **

**Fuck. **

**I'm not thinking right anymore. **

**I had fun writing this. **

**I hope you enjoyed reading this.**

**:3 **

**For the last time in this story...**

**Baka Ririn ~ 07/01/2012**


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